


Roll Up Your Sleeves

by cerie



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-18
Updated: 2011-06-18
Packaged: 2017-10-20 12:38:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/212855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cerie/pseuds/cerie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Helen Magnus doesn't cope well with mortality.  Post "Next Tuesday" and deals with Ashley's death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Roll Up Your Sleeves

Will had always thought that normal, healthy relationships were a vital part of life. Some of it was his training; any well-trained psychiatrist had intimate knowledge of group dynamics and the importance of forming dynamic relationships to deal with life stressors, but Will suspected it was some of his own personal preference as well. Henry had no family outside of the Sanctuary, but he managed to jet off with Big Guy whenever he had the chance to get in some down time. Ashley hadn’t had any long-term relationships in the time that Will knew her but he knew she snuck out from time to time to go clubbing and Magnus barely lifted an eyebrow. Kate did the same thing, now that she lived there, and Will…he’d had a relationship with Clara that had only really been cut short by her death.

Magnus, however, was completely self-contained. She didn’t do anything but work and sleep, more working than sleeping. He was sure she had hobbies, but losing Ashley had put a serious curb on any leisure activities for her and understandably so; much of what Helen did for fun had been with Ashley. Will liked to think he and Magnus were friends, maybe even close friends, but sometime between getting stranded in an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico and going to Mexico to track down entitled vampires, “close friends” shifted into something he couldn’t really define with textbook definitions.

The first time had been in a hotel room in New Orleans, both of them exhausted from hours at sea and Magnus emotionally drained from trying to deal with the grief of Ashley’s loss. In hindsight, Will should have said no, but he’d always been a sucker for Magnus when she was vulnerable, when she let down her damnable armor and just let herself feel for a little while. It had been tender and sweet and something Will thought maybe he could build a relationship on, all soft touches and stolen kisses. She’d cried afterward, long after Will figured she’d thought he was asleep, and he didn’t mention it. It wasn’t his place to question her grief, or the complex emotions she must have felt after crossing that line. When he’d attempted the next morning to talk to her about it, really pin down just what had changed, Magnus brushed him off and Will chalked it up to nerves and worry; they had a lot of work to do, after all.

After that first night, there was always a pattern: Magnus stole into his room, had messy, desperate sex with him and snuck out. Will tried not to take it personally but after a few weeks of it, it was hard not to; he’d never been the kind of guy to just have a fuck buddy. He’d had one night stands before, sure, but most of them had been in college and he didn’t make a habit of maintaining a long-term sexual relationship without some emotional involvement. Besides, it was Magnus, and he cared way too much to use her that way. He let her believe he was asleep when she snuck out. He didn’t want to guilt her, or provoke an argument when obviously she was in a bad emotional place, but late one night, after hours of tense and cathartic sex, he tightened his arm around her when she tried to go.

“Stay, Magnus. I’d never kick you out of here. You know that, right?” Will felt her tense; obviously she’d been expecting him to be asleep, and she didn’t speak for a long moment. The words hung there in the air, palpable, and Will almost wished he could see them and pluck them back, go back to before when Magnus wasn’t stiff against him and breathing shallow. Will hoped they’d talk but instead, Magnus shifted, pinning him between her thighs and leaning down to kiss him roughly. So not what he’d intended but Will went with it, physical reactions overriding his better judgment for the moment. She pinned his wrists as she leaned down to kiss him again, rocking her hips against his to increase the friction between their bodies. He really needed to make her stop, to get her to talk about what was bothering her, but he couldn’t when she was sliding on him and digging her nails into his shoulders, tightening around him when he leaned up to scrape his teeth against her collarbone. Desperate and messy and full of convolutions that Will couldn’t begin to follow, he slid his hand across her hip and rubbed his thumb against her, coming when he saw her lose it above him.

Afterward, she’d slid off him and dressed silently, padding out of the room without even acknowledging him. Not a good way to start a relationship and while it hadn’t seemed to affect their working relationship from her end, Will was starting to have trouble keeping things in the neat little boxes that Magnus wanted him to. He waited until her office cleared one morning after a staff meeting, nodded at the Big Guy who seemed to understand and made an excuse to leave, and laid a hand on her wrist.

“I’m not doing this anymore, Magnus. You need to talk to someone about what’s going on, whether it’s me, or the Big Guy, or Henry…just…I care about you. I really don’t like seeing you this way.” Magnus froze and peeled his hand away with manicured fingers, giving him a tight smile.

“Will, I’ll thank you not to discuss my personal life in such a casual manner. I appreciate your concern, but I’m quite all right.” Will stepped back, crossing his arms across his chest and assessing her. She was in fine form today: dark suit, fuck me heels, perfectly-straightened hair and glossed over with makeup and emotional unavailability. She was gorgeous, always had been, but cold now that Ashley was gone. How the hell was he going to deal with this? He let out a slow breath and tried to choose his words carefully.

“Magnus, your personal life is kind of my personal life right now, or have you forgotten that you’ve been sneaking around this place so you can fuck me and leave without a word? Besides, I know I haven’t been alive for over a century, but I’m pretty sure women aren’t supposed to cry after sex, or curl up and shake for hours, or leave without saying a word. Something is going on with you and I’d really like to help you, if you’d let me.” Magnus blinked at him, stone except for the hand that trembled slightly. Good. He’d gotten to her.

“There’s a great many things going on. I hardly think it’s your concern, Will.” Will slammed his hand down on her desk in a rare display of temper, getting a gasp out of Magnus. Good. Another damn reaction. He was on a roll today, even if they weren’t the kind of tender emotions he wanted to see. He could work with anger, or sadness…anything but the blank wall she’d been giving him for weeks. Anything was good at this point.

“I? Am not your one-stop sex shop, Magnus. Buck stops here. You want to talk to me about what’s going on with clothes on, I’m completely willing to listen. I care about you. I’d love to have a relationship with you, if that’s what you want. If the sex is just stress relief, I can’t do that, but I can help you find something else to relieve that stress. I’m here for you and I’m fighting for you, but you’ve gotta give me something, you know?” Magnus flushed for a moment, clearly embarrassed by his frank confession, and shook her head.

“I suppose I’ll keep to my own bedroom then,” she managed tightly, busying herself with a file they’d discussed earlier. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ve work to do. A good deal of it, actually, that I’ve let fall behind.”

Will refrained from throwing his hands up and left, pulling her door closed quietly before leaning against it and letting out another long, shaky breath. She was a piece of work, Helen Magnus, and didn’t seem to realize he didn’t want anything but to help her. Or maybe she did and she was afraid of that; really hard to tell with Magnus. Extremely hard to tell. Either way, things stopped for a few days and with vampires showing up in New City, things got pushed to the back burner until he was seated next to her on a flight back from Mexico City, her fingers drumming nervously against his arm rest. Will reached over and stilled them.

“Never seen you nervous about flying. Something going on?” He tried to keep his tone light and friendly, something like it used to be before Ashley died and Magnus started sleeping with him. He thought he did a reasonably good job of it, considering how fucked up their relationship was at the moment. Damn good job. Magnus gave him a small smile, ghost of a dimple showing in her cheek before it faded away and she shook her head.

“Quite all right, Will. I assure you of that.” Will reached over and squeezed her hand lightly, trying to impart some comfort. To her credit, Magnus didn’t pull away.

“I’m here. Whatever you need.” God, he really was a glutton for punishment, wasn’t he? For all Magnus had fucked him over the past few weeks emotionally, he was still perfectly willing to be that support system for her, if it meant she’d let some of the balls drop out of the air and some of the tension sink from her shoulders. She was wound up and strung out and if she didn’t do something about it, she’d break soon. None of them needed that, least of all Magnus herself.  
***

They didn’t talk after that, not with Tesla’s vampires still on the loose and Will didn’t really get a chance to corner her again; he was hardly having this conversation in a storage room tied up and with Kate next to him. There were the usual niceties once they’d all gotten home, Tesla in tow, and Will gave up on it for a moment, focusing on work and letting Magnus do whatever it was she needed to do to re-vamp Tesla. Long hours and an unappreciative audience, Will assumed, but she felt a connection to Tesla that Will would never begin to understand. To know someone for so long, to share the camaraderie of The Five and all that entailed…it was a club Will was never going to be a member of.

He’d half hoped it was her when he heard footsteps echoing in the library but they were low shoes, not Magnus’s ever-present high heels. He didn’t look up, figuring it was Henry after some research or Big Guy fetching something for Magnus, and he was a little bemused when he heard someone clear his throat in front of him. Will looked up, frowning when he saw Tesla. Oh. Must be in his favorite chair or something. What a tragedy. Just because he could appreciate Magnus’s relationship with the guy it didn’t mean that he had to like him.

“This may come as a slight shock to someone as young and naïve as you are, but Helen actually does care about you.” One hell of a non-sequitur and Will felt his mouth drop open, brows furrowing in confusion. Had Tesla just guessed or had she told him? While part of him was extremely irked that Magnus would share something so personal with Tesla, Will figured her talking to him was better than nothing. He ran a hand through his hair as he tried to decide how to tackle that statement.

“While I question her tastes, I have to admit, you’re a considerable step up from the riff-raff she’s been known to associate with in the past. Granted, her relationship with me has always been the pinnacle of her long life, but it’s hard to live up to perfection. Besides, youth has a certain…je nais se quoi, doesn’t it?” Tesla leaned his hip against the desk and examined his hands. “I imagine you’ve got a certain…stamina that she rather likes.”

Will rolled his eyes; it wasn’t Tesla without the grandstanding and the gesticulation, was it?

“If you’ve got a point, you can get to it any time now,” he managed, watching the other man pointedly. Whether or not Tesla actually cared about Will’s discomfort was debatable but he did, somewhere beneath all his posturing, have feelings for Magnus. That much, Will was certain of, or otherwise he wouldn’t have made a point to come down there to talk to him about it.

“All right, all right. You were always the child who wanted to read the end of the book first, weren’t you? Fine. I’ll bite. Helen doesn’t know what to do. Her whole life, she’s been in control and compartmentalized every aspect of her detailed little life, right down to the color of her underwear and the clips in her hair. Losing Ashley has her lost and realizing she’s got the warm fuzzies for you just has her plain scared. She doesn’t have the best track record in paramours, myself excluded.” Ugh. Will really didn’t want to think about Tesla and Magnus sleeping together, but he swallowed his pride and kept listening.

“She has feelings for you, although God only knows why, and she doesn’t know what to do about them. I had a little chat with her and, believe it or not, I think I convinced her to stop being stubborn and just do something fun for once. Granted, a lot more fun with me, but I know when to give up the fight before I embarrass myself. If I were you, I’d go into the breach once more, my dear friend, and go prepared. Love is, in fact, a battlefield.” Will gave him a tight smile and waved his hand a little.

“So, let’s say for five seconds that you’re actually telling the truth. You think I can just go up there and give her a grin and all’s forgiven? Don’t think so. Magnus doesn’t work that way.” Now it was Tesla’s turn to roll his eyes and he scoffed a little, pressing a bottle of wine into Will’s hands.

“Actually, I’d recommend bringing her that bottle and offering to talk. Last I saw her, she was curled on the couch in her drawing room feeling sorry for herself. It’s really not a good look on her. You know, back in the teens, I managed to get her in the loveliest little French negligee. Pretty scandalous, for the day, and oh, you wouldn’t believe the sounds she makes when you…” Will held up his hands. More than enough of that for a lifetime. He took the bottle and made a point of walking upstairs to Magnus’s room. He knew where it was, but he’d never been inside, and he knocked lightly on her door before opening it and slipping inside.

“Tesla sent this up with me,” he said softly, placing the wine on the low little table in front of her sofa. True to his word, Magnus was curled up, face a little puffy from crying. There was an empty bottle on the table as well, but the glass he assumed was Magnus’s (unless Tesla had started wearing lipstick in shell pink) was barely touched; looked like Tesla had retained his alcohol tolerance after being devamped after all. “You’re more than welcome to it, though that’s kinda stupid since it came from your wine cellar. Mind if I sit?”

Magnus nodded and Will sat on the sofa, close enough so her knees were pressed against his shoulder and waist. He slid a hand under them, straightening her legs so they were sprawled across his lap and moved that same hand up to brush the hair from her face. She hadn’t said anything, but she hadn’t kicked him out either, so Will figured that was progress.

“I’m quite sorry, Will,” she said after a long moment, voice low and thick from crying. Damn. Any righteous anger he had about being used flew out the window when she spoke like that and looked at him that way. Magnus probably had no idea just how much it affected him. Hell of a lot more than it should, probably. He gave her a soft smile and tucked her hair back behind her ear.

“Tesla said you wanted to talk?” Magnus nodded, shifting closer to lay her head against his shoulder. Will dropped a kiss on her hair and tried to let her speak without prying. No sense in forcing a confession she wasn’t ready to make and erasing the progress he’d made. That’d just frustrate the two of them even more and, judging by Tesla’s almost-altruistic meddling, possibly bring him down on Will’s head. De-fanged or no, Will didn’t want to tangle with that if he didn’t have to.

“Not right now, Will. I just wanted to apologize for how crass and rude I’ve been and how I’ve manipulated your feelings for my own gain. I had no right to do so and I do hope you can forgive me. I…I do care about you a good deal, Will. I thought perhaps you understood my need for catharsis and I’m ashamed to admit that I never took your own feelings into account. I would hate to lose your friendship over this, or lose you as an employee. We all need you around here, me more than most.” Will kissed her temple then, trying to figure out exactly how he wanted to tackle this conversation.

“I definitely understand catharsis, Magnus. Psychiatrist, remember?” That earned him a tiny smile and Will returned it before moving on. “I guess I just don’t know what you need, you know? I’m perfectly willing to accept an apology from you, but the whole sex thing…I can’t do that without being in a relationship, Magnus. I’m not wired that way, okay? More than that, I think you deserve a hell of a lot better than what you’ve been getting. I’m all for healthy relationships and what we have? Is so not healthy.” Magnus nodded, tipping her head down so her hair obscured her face. She was embarrassed from the looks of it, and Will tipped her chin up.

“I’m going to be here when you work it out, Magnus. I promise you that. Maybe that makes me an emotional masochist, but I…I just really think we could be good together if that’s what you wanted. And if it’s not, I’m not going to take it as personally as you think. You will always have my friendship and my respect. And, well, you’re always going to have me in that other way too, just because you’re an amazing woman and I think a man would have to be dead to not be at least a little in love with you. We all are, Magnus. Me, more than most.” Magnus looked shocked, eyes darting back and forth as if she was trying to find a way to escape. Will sighed and tightened his arm around her shoulders.

“I’m not pressuring you, Magnus…Helen,” Will said, trying to work the foreign name on his tongue. “I’m just being honest. You told me to never stop being honest with you and the truth is, I’m in love with you. I don’t care how you work this out as far as a relationship goes and if you decide it’s not going to work, I’ll be disappointed, but I’m not going to stop being there for you. I respect not wanting to talk tonight,” he finished, squeezing her shoulders again, “But before we sleep together again, we have to, okay?” He tipped her face up to his and kissed her gently, surprised when Magnus parted her lips and slid her arms around his shoulders, nails tracing lightly at the back of his neck. She whimpered a little when he pulled away and Will brushed his hand against her cheek.

“Work it out, however you want to, and we’ll talk about picking back up, okay?” Magnus nodded and slid out of his lap. Will shifted to get up himself and was surprised when she offered him a hand and squeezed tightly. “I’d rather like it if you stayed, actually. Just…just to sleep?” She looked incredibly vulnerable, as if she half-expected him to say no, and Will laughed a little and slid an arm around her waist.

“Come on, Magnus. Like I wouldn’t want to sleep in the Queen’s bed? Your sheets cost more than the gross domestic product of a small country.” Magnus laughed then, deep and throaty, and Will figured he was a pretty lucky guy other than the whole completely dysfunctional relationship and job that involved squid trying to turn him into chum.

All in a day’s work, after all.


End file.
